I can't be honest in India: Chappell

A little push, a tighter grip, a better look — after all Men in Blue have all that billions of Indians want: talent, wealth and fame.

To be their guru, means living with them in a goldfish bowl and that is something coach Greg Chappell is coming to terms with. CNN-IBN's Anuradha SenGupta met him in Nagpur before the start of the current ODI series with West Indies, one that has started on a winning note.

Anuradha SenGupta: I met Ricky Ponting recently on a series that we did on this channel. I couldn’t help but sense he seemed to be very relaxed. When I see Indian cricketers, either talking on TV or just the way they seem to be, most of them seem constrained. Now is this got to do with being Indian or Australian or is got to do with how the stakes are here in India for everybody involved in the game?

Greg Chappell: I think that’s mainly the difference. Every word, every nuance is treated so much more un-really in this country. In Australia you would say something and it would make a ripple. Here you say something and it’s a tsunami. That’s the difference, and even I have learnt over the time I have been here that you have to be really careful of what you say.

You can’t be honest about everything because of the way it can be taken and the way it can be twisted and the way it has been. I am sure that affects our players when they speak to the media because they know…I mean in my position if I talk about Sachin Tendulkar or if I talk about Rahul Dravid I have to be careful about what I say, because what I would say without fear in Australia I can’t say here. And I think that’s a shame, really, because therefore the media doesn’t get an honest opinion from within Indian cricket circles.

Anuradha SenGupta: Your sense of humour, has it taken a beating?

Greg Chappell: It has taken a beating but I think I have sort of got through that period. But it is still being collateral damage because I am still very conscious and careful of what I say because it will be taken out of context. The one I can think of was in South Africa when I made a comment about politicians, and that was really just a throwaway line, and it reverberated around the world because all of a sudden politicians were trying to take me to court and all sorts of things for something I hadn’t said. It was certainly not meant in the way it was taken. I am sure in the translation it was lost as well — I think it was through a Hindi channel but the translation was very different from what I said. And it was certainly not taken humourously.

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